Which to use
“mara” and “maré” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,718
- “mara” frequency rank
- #7,659
- “maré” frequency rank
- 17377
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mara | maré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | roedor que habita as estepes da Patagônia, na Argentina (Dolichotis patagonum) | movimento periódico de subida e descida das águas do mar |
Where the eye mixes mara and maré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mara and maré
A purely visual mix-up. mara (/ˈma.ɾɐ/) and maré (/mɐ.ˈɾɛ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “mara” becomes é in “maré”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mara is recorded at frequency rank #9,718, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.ɾɐ/. maré is at rank #7,659, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɾɛ/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 17377, this pair ranks #53,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mara vs maré
Shared letters: amr. Private to "mara": -. Private to "maré": é.
"mara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "maré" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mara ← marra · mmara · mraa
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mara" and "maré" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mara" or "maré"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mara" and "maré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mara vs mirra". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #53,887 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.